The Punishment Games
by NewVoice
Summary: Before Panem was a nation, a game was what brought North America to its downfall. The newly devised Punishment Games is starting, and its participants are going to be thrown into the complete unknown. Follow one participant as she fights to come home.
1. Prolouge

**Prologue:**

President Neepa walked briskly down the dimly lit hallway. His shined black shoes made steps that echoed off the metallic walls. No one else was in the long hall, no sign of live existing was seen. Only a single metal door stood withen sight. The middle aged-man kept a calm and steady pace. His grey suit looked immaculate and his blue eyes icy cold. His face had far too many lines for a man his age and his hands were tensely gripped into fists. This was a man of power. This was a man of accustomed to hardships. This was the leader of Panem during the recent uprising.

The President finally came to the metal door that was his destination. The metal felt cold even against his callused hands. A rusty squeak sounded as the door swung open. Inside was a small room, a single lamp swung from the ceiling lighting up a small wooden table. There were four wooden chairs seated around the table, three of which were already filled. Panams War Council Head, The Districts Representative, and the head of the archeological dig that uncovered the topic of today's meeting. Each looked up as they heard the President enter and stood as he closed the door behind him.

"Welcome. I'm so pleased you could all attend today's little get-together." President Neepan said with a cold smile. He sat down in the last remaining chair and stared at the other occupants of the room. "First, congratulations all around for the handling of the uprising. Every Capitol resident should be proud, for we all made contributions. Secondly, we must now take on a less pleasant task and decide how the Districts should be punished for their rebellion."

"Punishment. Cruel and unmerciful punishment. There is no other way to deal with the vermin who are unappreciative to those who govern them fairly." The Head of the War Council said harshly, slamming his fist down on the table. The Head Archeologist, Professor Thunket, cowered away from the angry man.

"Which bring us the reasoning our dear Professor is joining us today. During his last dig right before the Uprising he uncovered a book that may just be the answer to our problem. Professor?" The President gestured to the nervous looking aging man gave a small nod before bending under the desk to retrieve something. When he re-emerged he held a silver metal briefcase firmly between both hands. He laid it flat upon the table and slowly unclasped the two locks that sealed it shut. The case popped open and the Professor grabbed something out before quickly shutting the case and hiding it underneath the table once again.

"Here you go Mr. President." The Professor said handing a cloth covered square to Neepan. He took it with a nod of recognition.

"During a recent exploration the Professor here uncovered something from the old world. Now before the Uprising we were just going to add it to the history section of the Presidential Library. But in light of the recent events, I think we should instead take a page from our ancestors."

"Sir, what exactly does the book talk about?" The District Representative asked.

"Something painful hopefully." The War Council Head said menacingly.

"It is a rule and concept book that was printed in the final year of the old world. It was a sort of games, something as a punishment for those who no one cares about and who have no reason to behave. A deterrent of sorts."

"So we're going to stick the naughty children in time out?" The War Head said sarcastically.

"This game was much more than a time out. Children would be selected to go into an arena. A fight to the death." The President gave evil smile graced his lips. "I propose we select two children from each district, a boy and a girl, and hold these games each year."

"Intriguing, explain further if you please Sir." The District Representative said.

"Well it was only held once but this is what I understand..."

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**A/N So this was short purely becuase it's a set up for the story. Next chapters will be longer :) Review if you liked the start...and even if you didn't this isn't really what the rst of the story is going to be like.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

I sat in my dark grey school uniform in my white school gym with the rest of the student body of Morning Side Orphanage for Adolescence. The gloomy orphanage housed boys and girls from ages 10 to 18 and I was sitting among the rest of my grade 11 class as we waited for the assembly to begin. That morning the Principal, Ms. Marylse, had announced a mandatory assembly would be happening that afternoon. So here I sat, along with my best-friend Ashley and Ashleys boyfriend Alex.

"What do you think its about?" Ashley asked, sounding a little worried. Her white blonde hair was pulled back and was able to show her panicked look on her face. Ashley had been at Morning Side since she was 13. She wasn't one of those who had turned violent and angry after being dumped at Morning Side by her mom. Ashley had wound up a Morning Side after having a little run in with the police. Her mom had decided it was too much work to raise a teenager and had kicked her out of the house. She didn't like to share details but somehow it ended with the police guiding her by her collar to the Morning Side registration desk. Ashley didn't like to talk about her childhood, but now she was as sweet and innocent as a person could be.

"Hopefully it's just some presentation. If we get another budget cut there won't be enough money to feed everyone." Alex snorted. Alex had been at Morning Side since the starting age of 10. His parent s had died in a car accident when he was 9 and after a year of bouncing around in foster homes Morning Side had been almost like a haven for Alex. Him and I had started Morning Side together in the fifth grade and had been close ever since. Ashley and Alex had started dating the year before, after spending some time together on kitchen duty. As much as I hated the third wheel role I played while in school bounds, it was hard to hold any resentment towards the two.

"You never know. It's most likely nothing good. I think Marylse is allergic to anything cheerful." I laughed. I , Vanessa White, had spent seven years in this God Forsaken place, after being transferred here from a close-by orphanage. My mother had stumbled up the steps of my childhood orphanage one day extremely pregnant. I must have been the result of an unwanted teenage pregnancy. It only took a few hours until I was given to the nursery center and never saw my mom again. Seventeen years later every time I go and visit my old home the patrons there says I'm a spitting image for my mom. Long brunette hair, large green eyes, and a tall athletic body. When Ashley and I stood side-by-side we looked like a complete contrast.I was the opposite to her petite and blonde.

"Attention! Attention students!" Ms. Marylse walked onto the gymnasium stage. Her heels clacked the entire way. The middle aged women was renown for her lifeless gray suits and her ice blue eyes that could see misbehavior a mile away. The sound of her heels walking caused most kids in the Orphanage to jump. The hundreds of kids all crammed into the gym stopped talking in the same second Ms. Marylse spoke. Ms. Marylse enjoyed punishments and talking during an assembly got a nice long thought out chore list. I sat back beside Ashley and waited to find out what had our principal so excited.

"I am pleased to announce that this year our school will participate in a new punishment and entertainment program. A boy and a girl will be chosen from these glass bowls," A teacher wheeled what looked like two giant fishbowls onto the stage. One bad a sign that said 'GIRLS' taped to the front and the other had one that said 'BOYS'. Ms. Marylse had a sickening smile on her face as she turned back to us. "Each student has exactly one slip of paper with their name in there, as this is the first one of these 'Punishment Games' as we're calling them. After this every time one of you get in trouble, instead of a detention you will instead have a slip with your name added. And whomsoever is chosen will compete in the newly devised Punishment Games!" Her excitement didn't match the confused atmosphere of the gym.

"I see none of you seem to understand the magnificence of this. So let me explain. The boy and girl chosen here will enter an arena filled with a boy and girl from 9 other orphanages and military schools. Those that house the children who cannot be controlled and have nothing to lose. The names in the bowl only start at those who are 10 years old, which for our school means all students are eligible. In that arena, you will all fight to the death. There may only be one winner." Marylse gave a shining smile, unseen by any student before. I felt horror bubbling within me. This evil women was taking joy in the thought of sending children to their deaths. A gasp ran throughout the gym. Everyone around me had look of horror on their faces. Beside me Alex had paled and wrapped his arm protectively around Ashely, who looked like she was about to hurl.

"Ah. I see we have the wanted reaction. All of you will be thinking twice before misbehaving from now one, for every slip makes you more likely to be chosen." Marylse walked over to the girls fishbowl. "Shall we begin. Ladies first." She reached her hand in dug it around in the bowl for a few seconds. I clenched my fist, our school goes down to 10 year olds. If any one of them got chosen I knew there would be an uproar.

"And our female participant is..." Ms. Marylse clutched a single piece of paper in her hand. My hand grabbed to Ashley, both squeezing as a sign of comfort. There were less than 300 girls in our school. A two in three hundred chance one of us would get picked. I looked around the crown and caught sight of my boyfriend, Dylan. He was sitting with his grade 12 class and looked terrified as we stared at each other. "Vanessa White!" My insides froze. One tiny slip of paper had decided I was going to die. It's not like I had any chance of winning. Ashley gasped beside me and Alex had a look of shock on his face. I'm sure I looked like a frightened five year old, but how am I supposed to react to being told it was kill or be killed for me.

"Ms. White if you could please make your way up to the stage." It seemed like a dream as I stood up. Ashley was whispering behind me to sit down, to run, to do anything in protest. I was too stunned to listen though. All eyes were upon me as I shuffled towards the front of the gym. I slowly climbed the steps onto the stage and stood to face my school. There were crying and shocked faces everywhere in the sea of children.

"Now lets move onto the male participant." Ms. Marylse smiled her wicked smile again and proceeded to the male bowl. Not a sound was heard from the audience, they were all holding their breaths. My head raced through the list of boys names I didn't want to hear. Classmates, friends, anyone who had ever offered me a smile. Most of all though I didn't want to hear Dylans name.

"Alexander Theadore!" Ms. Marylse called out.

That name too. I really didn't want to hear that name either.

Ashley let out a scream of horror from the back of the gym. Instead of just losing her best friend, she was going to be losing her boyfriend as well. I could see her clutching onto Alex as he tried to stand. She wasn't going to let go from her own free will. A security officer who's employed by the school to keep things calm rushed over and restrained Ashley. As the older man tried to pry Ashley off of Alex a horrible thought occurred to me. The longer Ashley fights the more likely she'll get in trouble, the more times her name will be placed in the draw for next year.

"Ashley let go! Think of the consequence!" I called out through the gym. Everyone stared at me like I was nuts but I didn't care. Ashley paused her struggling for a moment, weighing the pro's and cons in her head about what to do. I saw Alex whisper something in her ear before kissing her on the forehead. Finally Ashleys arms slackened as she fell to the ground.

Alex, now free, walked calmly up the same path I had taken moments before. He jogged slightly up the stairs and came to stand next to me. He grabbed my hand in his, a gesture to comfort and calm the both of us. All eyes in the crowd here crying now. Ashley was in the corner, rocking back and forth and holding her head in her hands. These games were going to destroy her as much as they would Alex and I.

"Morning Side Orphanage may I present to you our participants for the first ever Punishment Games!" Ms. Marylse looked absolutely joyful as she gestured to Alex and I. "May today go down as a proud day in the history of our school as I'm sure both participants will do our school justice. Now each participant will be allowed to choose ONE person to say good-bye too. Participants?"

"Ashley Brandt!" Alex called immediately. I knew that one was coming. Ashley slowly rose from her fetal position and got to her feet.

"Dylan Marsh!" I called out. Dylan got calmly to his feet.

"Now once this assembly is dismissed our participants and their loved ones will have 10 minutes to say there good-byes privately. Then they will be taken away too meet with the other participants and in two days time after they have met their competition and done some basic training they will be thrown into a televised arena. Now for how the games will progress. The games will be televised once they start in every classroom and common room of the school. Classes will be put on hold in order to keep up with the games and watching is mandatory until both this schools participants die. That is all. Now back to classes."

All the students started to file out of the gym, most looking back at Alex and I with sad and pitying faces. They all knew we were going to die. We knew we were going to die. Ms. Marylse knew we were going to die but there she stood with that wicked smile on her face.

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**A/N The first real chapter :D so now it's clear that this story is actually going to follow Vanessa through the games I hope i get more interest in it. Reviews and feedback are loved.**


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